Isono
by DragonSlayer2187
Summary: Isono is saved by Brom from her burning house, but her parents are not so lucky. Feeling guilty over her parents deaths Brom takes her in and starts training her to replace him in case he dies before the next Dragon Rider is born. When Eragon becomes that Dragon Rider Isono leaves with him and Brom on the adventure of a life time.
1. Prologue

_**Disclaimer:**__ I do not own the Inheritance Cycle that right belongs to Christopher Paolini. I am just playing with the characters for a while and will try to put them back good as new. I do however own my OC characters, so please do not use them unless given signed permission from me._

**Prologue**

A cough left her raw throat and small hands went up and wrapped themselves around her neck as a whimper of pain followed. It felt like she had just swallowed several shards of glass and they were now ripping her throat up. Her lips were dry and chapped, but she had no saliva in her mouth to help ease the pain when she licked them with her rough tongue.

Again a dry cough left her throat and she curled her small body up more, trying to keep the smoke away from her face and mouth. Her room was pitch black and the only light she could see was coming from beneath her door. She didn't want to go towards that light, for she knew it was the flames from the fire her parents had left to put out.

The temperature had steadily started to rise after what felt like hours, for the floor she was laying on had been cool, but now it was warm to her touch along with the air in the room. This showed by the shine of sweat that now coated her body, making her white sleeping gown stick to her in an uncomfortable way. Her shoulder length auburn hair also stuck to the back of her neck and her bangs were plastered to her forehead getting in the way of her eyes, causing her to wipe her bangs out of the way with her small fingers every now and then.

She wondered where her parents were. They hadn't come into her room, her mother's voice had only told her to get to the window and crawl out, while her father and she tried to put the flames out. She had done what she was told, but the window was too far up for her short five-year-old body. She had tried to find things in her room to stand on so she could reach, but all she could find was her nightstand by her bed and she wasn't strong enough to move that. She gave up and curled up next to the wall directly below it and waited for her parents to come back and help. At one point in time she heard footsteps coming towards her door and what sounded like her mother coughing, but just before the door there was a loud thud and then nothing, only the crackling and snapping of the wood as the fire consumed it.

Cold fear seized her small body, as the glow below her door grew more intense and flames every few minutes darted underneath her door, seeming to taste it to make sure it was edible. The smoke grew thicker, swirling and dancing around the room and her. Uncurling herself she sat up, gazing in horror as the orange and red flames started to eat her door with vigor. She knew it wouldn't take long for the door to go and then the rest of her room.

Standing up she pressed herself up against the wood of the wall, groping blindly for anything she could use to try and slow down the fire. Her hand landed on a vase full of flowers that had been sitting on her bedside table. Taking it she threw the flowers onto the floor and running at the door threw what water was in the vase at the door. A hiss echoed throughout her room and steam rose from where the red tongues had started to take over her door. She felt relief for a few minutes before flames once again started to try to eat the door, but now they were slowed down, due to the wet wood.

Seeing that bought her some time she turned around and headed back to the window. Reaching up again, she tried to reach the window, but even on her tip toes she could only touch the bottom with the tip of her fingers. She heard a loud crack behind her and whipped around making her hair fan out. The flames had made it past the wet part of the door and when it had reached some of the drier wood it had cracked and popped sending out a spray of red hot embers.

Since her door wasn't that far away from the window some of the embers landed on her. She gave a shrike of terror and hurt as one of them landed on her right arm, burning it immediately. Another landed in her hair and she could hear the sizzle as it burnt her hair, along with the sickening stench. Quickly her right hand brushed off the ember on her arm, burning her fingertips a little in the process. She then shook her head like crazy, while running her fingertips through it to get the chunk out of her hair. It worked as a few seconds later the sizzling stopped and she heard a small thump behind her.

Tears streamed down her face as small sobs left her as she turned to the wooden wall behind her and began banging on it with her tiny fists. Now along with the sobs were grabled words of, "Mother and Father," but nobody came. She knew in her mind it was useless, for her family was one of two farms placed the furthest from Carvahall. Even if they saw the smoke right now it would still take them at least an hour if not more to get to her on good roads, but it had snowed last night, which meant they would have to plow through snow drifts. This would slow them down immensely and she knew she didn't have even the hour of time left with good roads.

Feeling hope leave her and exhaustion taking over she pushed her back against the wall and slid down it to sit with her knees up against her chest. Her head sat on top of her knees and with her arms wrapped around them she watched the flames eat at her door. The stinging in her right arm brought her attention away from the door and to the burn. It definitely was bad. The skin had boiled up and in some parts had curled back to reveal angry red tissue that slowly leaked blood and a puss-like substance.

As she continued to examine it she noticed her vision start to get black spots in it. Blinking her dry and sore eyes the spots still remained; in fact they were getting worse. It was then she noticed it was getting harder to breath and felt her body gasping trying to get in as much air as possible. She felt her body slowly fall to the right and tried to bring her hands out to catch her, but they didn't want to move. Her body hit the floor and her head smacked into it painfully. Her body now lay on its side, her back facing the wall and her arms thrown in front of her. She felt her eyes fill with tears again and shut them tightly, not wanting her last minutes to be filled with tears. She wanted to be strong for her parents until the end. Without her noticing a single tear did make its way from her eye and down the side of her face, to drip into her hair.

It was getting harder to breath now. The smoke-choked air held no more oxygen for her and she could feel her lungs seize up with what little air she had left. Her body was shaking now and despite the heat from the flames she felt cold. Taking one last ragged breath, she sent a small prayer up to the Gods asking for them to take her quick, so she wouldn't have to suffer.

The Gods must have decided it wasn't her time to go, for in that moment the glass above her shattered into a thousand pieces and rained down on her prone body. She felt a sting on her cheek as one of them cut into it leaving a nice thin red line, but she didn't care about that. Somebody had made it in time to save her.

The smoke that had been circling above and around her quickly left through the open window, leaving cool refreshing air in its place. She took in a huge breath, greedily sucking up as much of the clean air as possible, but the moment it hit her lungs it froze them and she began to cough uncontrollably. After being used to the heat in the room the freezing air felt like somebody was stabbing her lungs with icicles.

Turning her head so she could see who her rescuer was her eyes widened as a man's head came into view. All she could see were piercing blue eyes, for the bottom half was covered by a shawl of some type and the rest of his head was covered by a black hood. Seeing her, his eyes widened and he quickly vaulted over the window and into the burning room.

He knelt in front of her and quickly picked her up, using one hand to hold her close to his hard chest, before running over to the recently broken window, using his free hand he put it against the frame and swung a leg over it, along with her body. Soon they were standing outside in the cold snow, with a biting wind cooling her overheated skin. A shiver racked her body, for she still only had on her thin white nightgown, which didn't provide much protection from the cold.

The man, who had saved her, must have felt her shiver for he now swung her up, so he was holding her bridal style and wrapped his black cloak around her frame, hiding it from the stinging bite of the wind. She still felt light headed, but her lungs were slowly adjusting to the freezing temperature and she was only coughing every now and then.

Leaning into the man's chest she could feel the coarse thread that made up the dark brown color of his thick shirt. Leaning her ear against the material she felt hard muscle underneath it, along with the beat of his heart, which for some reason made her relax even more against him. He didn't say anything as he began to trek through the knee high snow and toward town.

She could feel the call of sleep, but jerked awake when she felt the pad of a calloused finger run underneath the cut on her cheek. She winced as it touched the cut and made it sting. The finger removed itself quickly from her face and she heard a low muffled, "Sorry," from the face above her.

Looking up she rasped out, "It's okay and thank you, for saving me."

Sky blue eyes swung down to meet her amber colored orbs with slight surprise showing in their depths. "I was just passing by." The voice that answered was deep and gruff and slightly muffled because of the scarf still covering his lower face, but it didn't scare her.

She just smiled and asked, "What's your name?"

The man's eyes lost their surprise and were then filled with deep sorrow and pain as he answered her in a whisper, "Brom, and yours, small one?"

If possible her grin got bigger as she choked out, "Isono."

A coughing fit then took her over and she curled up into Brom's chest. She felt his grip tighten on her shoulders and legs, making sure she wouldn't fall. Slowly the coughs subsided and she relaxed in his grip again.

When he was sure she wasn't going to fall or cough again he said in a stern rough voice, "Don't talk anymore and get some rest. We will be at the village soon and somebody can look you over."

A small grin took over her face and she just nodded her head, as her exhausted body once again began calling for sleep. She cuddled as far as she could against his chest, taking the end of the cloak he had wrapped around her into one of her hands, curling it in-between her chest and his. She then let her head rest on the top part of his chest and closed her eyes feeling safe and protected.


	2. Chapter One: Lessons

_**Disclaimer:**__ I do not own the Inheritance Cycle that right belongs to Christopher Paolini. I am just playing with the characters for a while and will try to put them back good as new. I do however own my OC characters, so please do not use them unless given signed permission from me._

**Chapter One: Lessons**

The first red and orange rays of the sun were starting to peak over the top of the mountain range called the Spine that protected the small village of Carvahall. A golden ray of sunshine started to illuminate a small log cottage that sat only a few miles southwest of the village. The cottage had many pine and spruce trees surrounding it, only leaving enough space for a small shed and the road to reach it. A small trail led from the back door into the forest behind the cottage. The trail went on for at least another mile before it opened up into a medium sized clearing.

In the clearing stood a tall man with choppy short white hair and a knotted white beard that fell down over his chest. Above the beard were two sparkling blue eyes that were at the moment focused on following the movements of the one in front of him. Gripped in his long worn and tan fingers a handle wrapped in black leather strips sat. The handle gradually gave way to a gleaming silver guard, before tapering into a long thin silver sword. He handled the weapon like a pro, dodging, paring, and circling his opponent with a grace and ease of a beautiful dancer; only this dance was deadly.

His opponent is small girl, her head only reaching to about mid chest on him. Her hair a deep red, like that of autumn colored leaves. She had pulled it back into a neat braid that reached the middle of her back and swung in time with her movements. Eyes of liquid amber were burning with a fire of determination as she swung the medium sized silver sword in her right hand, that had a similar style to the old mans, around her like it was an extension of her own arm. Even though she is younger and far less experienced then her elder, she also moves with a grace and accuracy only able to be accomplished by countless years and hours of practice. What she loses in height she makes up in agility and speed by doing flips and slipping through spots that had she been any bigger wouldn't have worked.

They continued to circle and size each other up and all that could be heard was the crunch of the dead grass as their boots crushed it with each step; normally followed by a soft swishing sound created by the girl's buckskin ankle length skirt. After circling each other for what felt like hours, but in reality were only a few minutes, the girl attacked first. Darting toward the man her skirt flapped in the wind, showing it had splits going up both sides and stopping at her upper thighs. Her legs and feet were exposed now and then, showing her legs were covered in black leather pants and her feet in dark brown boots.

She dived to the right avoiding the horizontal slash sent at her chest and getting past his guard. She swung her much smaller sword in an upwards cut towards his chest. Being unable to use his sword the older man moved back a few steps, while also leaning as far back as possible. He made it just in time with only a few inches to spar as he felt the sword tip just barely brush the front of his spruce colored shirt.

As he straightened up he brought his sword down, aiming for the top of her head. The girl seemed to know what he had planned for she twisted out of the way and just as she passed his left side she shot out her sword arm to slash his ribs. The old man saw the attack and jumped back letting the sword pass harmlessly by.

Once again they circled each other waiting for one of them to leave an opening. This time it was the man that made the first move, with a quick leap he landed in front of the girl and swung his sword parallel to the ground, aiming for her left side. Quickly the girl brought up her sword hoping to block the strike.

The crash of metal hitting metal sounded out through the clearing as she made it just in time, but now their swords were locked together each pushing against the handles of the swords to try and throw one or the other back. The girl's right forearm muscles strained with effort, actually showing underneath the long sleeve of her dark blue shirt. The man being stronger and taller than her, slowly started to push the smaller girl back, knowing it was a losing battle, she jumped back, making the man lose his balance when he stumbled forward from the loss of friction. This left him open for a minute and she took the opportunity to slash her sword across his open chest, but she had done it in haste and the old man was quick to bat it away like it was nothing as he found his balance. By pushing her sword to the side he had set her off balance, as she had not centered herself correctly in her haste to get a hit in. Feeling her body stumble sideways she just went with it only correcting her path enough to go straight forward, tucking her body into ball, she went into a summersault and popped back up onto her feet once the roll was complete.

She turned round to face him with her sword ready at the same exact time he also turned around with his sword out and ready, the tips of their swords actually touched sending a small ringing into the air. Everything seemed to freeze as they both stood there looking at each other. The blue eyes of the man filled with shock and pride. The amber eyes of the girl filled with excitement and joy.

It was now that the old man spoke, his voice rough and deep as he praised her, "Isono, I am glad you have learned from past mistakes."

"Considering I had you Brom teaching me these past fifteen years and you are possibly the best teacher out there, what more did you expect?" Isono's smooth and melodic voice replied back laced with affection and sarcasm.

"Ahh my dear, flattery will get you nowhere in this duel." Brom answered back before coming after her.

The hits now became harder and faster. Isono could tell he had become serious now and so she also began to put her best effort forward in blocking and dodging. She couldn't seem to match his speed though as one of his hits got through her guard and smacked into her left thigh painfully. _That is going to leave a bruise._ Isono thought as she did an impressive back flip to get away and give her sometime to recover and think.

It didn't work the way she wanted it to, for Brom had followed her and as soon as she landed another hit rapped onto her right shoulder making her stagger a bit. Gritting her teeth Isono let out a strangled, "Shit," before righting herself and blocking a slash aimed at her ribs.

Not wanting to hobble back to her home in pain, she quickly put all her strength into pushing his sword back. It actually had the desired effect as Brom moved back a few steps leaving her enough room to move her sword down the length of his and tangle them together. She jerked up abruptly and sent Brom's sword flying out of his fingerless black leather gloved hands and into the air. Not watching where it landed Isono then followed with a series of horizontal and parallel slashes. She was able to hit his left forearm and right side, just under his ribs, before Brom danced out of her reach. Taking the chance to look where he was dancing too, she noticed the hilt of his sword sticking out of the ground just a few feet in front of him. Not wanting him to get the chance to get his sword, Isono took after Brom, having to run to try to catch up.

What she hadn't counted on or thought of doing herself was using her magic. So she was completely surprised when the ground in front of her rose up just enough for her to trip and land face first into the dirt. Her air left her in a rush as she landed and as she took a deep breath in she groaned. Knowing that Brom would be on top of her any second she rolled over and propped herself up with her elbows. Her sword lay still grasped in her fingerless brown leather gloves, but it would do her no good as she felt the touch of cold steel against her throat right underneath her chin. Moving her eyes along the glowing steel and then up the hand to the shoulder and face, her eyes finally met Brom's blue ones, which were hard and daring her to try and get out of this one.

"You are getting better in your sword play, but you still haven't learned to incorporate your magic into the fight." Brom said in his rough deep voice that had taken a slight chastising tone to it.

Isono gave a sigh of defeat and nodded her head at Brom's words. "I know, but I want to just beat you once with actual swords and no magic." She explained in exasperation.

Moving his sword tip from her throat Brom held out his hand to her to help her up as he lectured, "The only problem with that logic is that I never just use my sword in a fight. I am always thinking of ways to incorporate a small bit of magic to either give me just that little bit of extra strength or edge to come out on top. You need to start doing this, for not everybody you meet will play fairly, especially if they are a gifted sorcerer like you and I."

Putting her small hand in Brom's large one she let him lift her to her feet as she took in his words. Blushing at his small amount of praise for her exceptional skills as a magician she nodded her head and said, "I suppose you are right, it is just so hard for me to keep my mind open and not solely focus on one thing at a time."

"I know this and that is why I need to think of a way to teach you multitasking, for obviously doing this sparring and expecting you to think to use your magic are not working." Brom replied putting his sword in the sheath that was attached to the brown leather belt that was slung on his narrow hips.

Seeing him sheath is sword was a good clue that they were done with the sparring session for the day and so she followed his example and adjusted her black leather belt afterwards to hang more natural on her wide hips. Looking down with distain she notice dirt and grass smudges on her tan skirt from her tumble to the ground. It would take her a while to get those stains out next time she washed.

She then returned her gaze to Brom, who had now walked over to a fallen tree and picked up his grey cloak that had been laid there before they started their sparring session. Running her gaze up and down his form she gave a sigh of aggravation. His spruce colored long sleeve shirt and black leather pants were spotless; in fact they didn't even look wrinkled, where her clothes were in a disheveled mess. Giving another sigh of exasperation she walked over to his side also picking up her own grey cloak off the fallen tree and shaking out the dust and leaves that clung to it.

Swinging it around her shoulders she then clasped it together underneath her chin as Brom spoke, "Let us return back home and have some breakfast. Afterward we will go about your studies."

He looked down at Isono and she nodded her head saying, "Sounds like a plan, besides I am starving."

Giving a deep chuckle Brom raised a hand and ruffled the top of her head as he turned away from her and headed down the small trail leading to the back of the small cottage. Isono grumbled under her breath, "Don't mess up my hair," as she patted down the few strands that had come lose as she followed after him.

It took them twenty minutes to reach their cottage and during the walk Brom had given Isono the task of expanding her mind to try and feel out her surroundings. She had mastered doing this sitting down, but moving added a whole new layer of difficult. With her having a one track mind it proved very difficult for her to continue walking and sensing for any life around her and so she found herself stopping and starting a lot.

Isono wanted to jump for joy when their small cottage came into site. She stopped with her sensing and quickly ran towards the door, only for Brom to stop her with his sharp tone, "Isono."

She immediately froze with her hand resting on the door knob. Grimacing at his tone and her own foolishness she slowly turned her head to look at him from the corner of her eye. "Yes," she whispered.

"What have I told you about rushing ahead and not checking for danger?" Brom stood there with his arms crossed with a disappointed look in his eyes.

"To always approach with caution and feel for anything out of place. To also stop now and then to scan the area you are in." Isono repeated word for word feeling guilty.

"Did you do this," Brom question, although he already knew the answer?

"No I did not," her voice was laced with self loathing.

Brom continued to stare at her for another minute, before shaking his head and walking toward her and the door. Isono was confused at this, she had been expecting a lecture or at least a reprimand, but nothing accept a sigh and head shaking. "Umm, so what is my punishment," she hesitantly asked as he opened the door and walked through it.

Isono followed waiting for his answer. What she received confused her further. "Nothing, for now, but I did just come up with a way to make you multitask." He said as he hung up his cloak next on the hook next to the door.

"Oh and are you going to tell me how you are going to accomplish that?" Isono couldn't help the curiosity that entered her voice as she also hung up her cloak as she watched Brom move away from hanging up his cloak and toward the kitchen.

"If I tell you know it will defeat the purpose of the exercise." Brom stated as he walked to the right hand side of the room and over to the counter beside the sink that they used to prepare meals on.

Isono walked over to their small square table that sat in the middle of the kitchen and took one of the two chairs and sat down in it. Wondering what the man had come up with as she watched him move around the kitchen preparing their breakfast. At one point, when he turned his head to the side she swore there was a small grin on his face and that he actually chuckled a little to himself. _That is not a good sign._ Isono said to herself becoming nervous and a little frightened.

Brom had now moved over to their four burner stove and was filling it with wood. Standing up he glanced over toward her and raised an eyebrow expectantly at her, "Instead of sitting there watching me make yourself useful and light this."

Giving a sigh of exasperation Isono stood up and walked over to the stove as Brom moved back over to the small bowl he had been mixing. Crouching in front of the open iron door she raised one of her hands and pointed at the bottom of the stack of wood inside the stove. Reaching deep into her mind she found that small bump that resembled her magic and giving it a nudge could feel it open and expand throughout her body. Harnessing that energy she concentrated it to her pointer finger and mumbled, "Brisingr."

A small silver spark shot out of her finger and onto the kindling before turning an orange-red color as it took off. Smiling at her accomplishment Isono stood up and closed the iron door of the stove. Turning around she almost ran into Brom, who was standing behind her with the bowl in one hand and slices of bacon in the other. Stepping to the side she muttered, "Sorry," as he passed her and laid the bacon in a skillet on the right and poured the egg mixture into another pan on the left.

"Now that you are done with that set the table, after that go to your room and bring out the book I gave you that have the translations for the Ancient Language." Brom didn't even look up from his pans as he spoke.

Not saying anything Isono went and grabbed two wooden plates from the shelf just to the right of the stove and set them on the small table across from each other. She then found two wooden cups and two steel forks, also setting them in their proper places. She had been taught long ago not to ignore Brom's orders; if she did she could always expect some sort of punishment afterwards. Seeing that everything was ready she headed off toward the two doors that sat to the right of the door they had come through.

To get there she had to walk through their small sitting area set in front of the fireplace. Two comfortable chairs, made of wood, wool, and dark brown leather, sat in front of the fireplace with a small table separating the two. On top of the table were two spots to put a cup down and a few books stacked on top of each other. As she passed by the table she took the top book and kept on walking to the left hand door.

Reaching the door she put out her right hand and turned the knob, before pushing open the door. Walking in she paused for a few minutes to examine the small room. On the right hand side a single bed had been pushed up against the wall and covered in a green quilt to keep out the chill of night. Seeing nothing out of place there her gaze moved over the window and the dark brown dresser with four drawers. The view out the window consisted of the dark trees that surrounded the cottage. She gazed for a few minutes to see if there were any movements, but seeing none she moved on to the left hand side of the room.

Moving with a purpose she approached the four shelves set up on the left hand wall and started to browse through the many book titles that sat on it. Most of the books that were there had come from Brom. He had been adamant on her learning to read and write, then later when they discovered she could use magic he had started giving her books on how to master and control it. She also had picked up some books on the history of Alagaësia and fighting techniques from the traders when they came. Brom had scoffed at some of her history books and had giving her one that he said actually told the true story of what happened with the Dragon Riders. She rolled her eyes as she replaced the book she had picked up off the sitting room table and then pulled down a worn grey book with no title on the spine or cover.

Turning around she walked out her bedroom door, closing it as she went. As she reached the table Brom had turned around with the two pans and walked over to the set table. Sitting down she placed the beaten up book beside her plate and helped herself to the bacon and scrambled eggs. They sat in silence as they ate and when they were finished washed off their dishes in the sink. Finally they were done and both sat back down at the table. "Open up the book to the page we ended on last time." Brom instructed her as he sat different objects in front of her.

Isono quickly flipped to the page she had marked and read the left page. It talked about the word for water and how you could combine it with different words to either create or direct it. Looking up after she was done reading the page she saw that Brom had placed in front of her a bowl of water, dirt that looked moist, and an empty bowl.

Moving her amber eyes to meet his she asked, "What is this?"

Brom's blue eyes twinkled with amusement as he answered her with his own questions, "What does it look like?"

Isono studied the objects in front of her for a few minutes before it hit her and her eyes grew wide as she said, "You want me to move the water from this bowl into the empty one. You also want me to extract the water from the dirt in the other bowl."

She watched as Brom nodded his head in affirmative. She stuttered out in shock, "Thi…This is going to take too much energy."

"Not if you chose your words wisely and think before you act." He stated in a calm voice.

Sighing Isono turned back to her book and started to look up words to help her. She had decided to see on moving the water from the one bowl to the other. This one seemed less difficult, but she soon found out it wasn't the case. Choosing her words she held her right hand over the water and intoned, "Adruna rïsa eom iet iam." (Water rise to my hand)

The water only came up in a few inches before splashing back down into the bowl. Isono felt as a little bit of her energy leave her. It left her panting slightly as she tried to figure out what she had done wrong. She had noticed that the water took a lot of energy to hold onto as it wasn't a solid mass. It was constantly moving and changing and so she couldn't hold onto it like she did the pebble. Thinking of this she decided to try something different.

Going through the thick book again she chooses some different words and held her right hand over the bowl of water and intoned, "Adruna tauthr iet iam." (Water follow my hand)

Isono slowly moved her hand from over the top of the bowl, watching as the water slowly crept over the top of the bowl and onto the counter, following her hand till it rested over the empty bowl. She cut the spell once all the water had come to rest in the other bowl. She took a deep breath, not feeling nearly as exhausted as the first time. She looked up at Brom to see what he thought.

He seemed to have a thoughtful look on his face as he watched her before speaking, "I see you can learn from your mistakes. As you found out the first time that water is had to control like normal objects. You can't just grasp onto it and expect it to do as you say, without causing an enormous toll on your energy. The second time instead of controlling it specifically you choose to just have it follow something, which left it to move where it choose, while still going where you wanted it to go. That was a smart move. Now on to the dirt, I warn you know this one, no matter how you choose your words will leave you exhausted."

Nodding Isono made a little depression in the soil for the water to collect and once again went to scanning the pages of her book. This actually took her most of the day to try and come up with words that she could put together. They paused to have lunch and she ran through some of the words she had chosen, but none of them seemed to work, so after lunch she went back to the book. Brom had supper almost done before she found the right combination of words that she felt confident in.

Holding both hands around the mound of dirt she intoned, "Adruna reisa frá du deloi." (Water rise from the earth.)

Slowly the depression started to fill with water, but Isono had to cut off her magic when it was only half full, as she was panting so hard and felt as though she would pass out any minute. Putting her forehead down on the table she took in deep breaths, trying to regain some normalcy. She heard the clink of a plate being sat down and moved her head to look at Brom.

He had a small smile on his face as he studied her dirt. Sensing her staring he moved his gaze to lock with hers. "You did a good job; most people wouldn't be able to do even this without passing out. This shows you are strong in magic and body. We will continue to practice this until you can do it without becoming winded. Now let's eat and then I think it will be off to bed for you."

He motioned to her plate as he sat down and she blushed as her stomach gave a rumble of agreement. Looking down at her plate she felt her mouth water at the sight of potatoes and gravy, green beans, and a small piece of steak. Quickly she took up her fork and knife and dug in, feeling as if she hadn't eaten in months. Once her food was gone and plates clean, Brom shooed her to bed as he took his chair by the fire.

Once in her room Isono changed into her white sleeping gown, throwing her dirty clothes into the small basket in the corner behind the door. Looking out her window, she saw there was still some light outside, but her body was exhausted, so instead of grabbing a book she turned back the quilt on her bed and settled into the white sheets and pillow, pulling the quilt up underneath her chin. She could feel her eyelids getting heavy and had just closed them when a sharp blast of magical energy came into the room.

_**Authors Note:**__ I am sorry this took so long, but I ran into a little road block on how I wanted to start out this chapter. I know this is going to be more of a set up chapter, so you can learn about my character and what she has been doing for the past fifteen years, but I promise it will get better the more we go. Please review as they are what feeds my muse._


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